$79 MILLION JURY AWARD PUTS BRAKES ON DOMINO'S 30-MINUTE DELIVERY PLEDGE -

Domino's Pizza Inc., the world's largest pizza delivery company, will stop promising to deliver pizza within 30 minutes following a $79 million jury award to a St. Louis woman who was injured when a Domino's driver struck her car.

But local Domino's franchisee Frank Meeks, who owns 53 Domino's in the Maryland, Virginia and the District, said he will continue to offer the guarantee to Washington area customers.

"I'm a renegade," said Meeks, whose stores had sales of $60 million last year. "I'm not going to do it." He said Domino's President Thomas G. Monaghan was forced to make the change because of accidents involving Domino's drivers in other parts of the country.

At a press conference at corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., Monaghan said Domino's has always been committed to safety, "and I believe we are the safest delivery company in the world. But there continues to be a perception ... that the guarantee is unsafe. We got that message loud and clear."

The corporate policy will apply to the 580 company-owned Domino's, including a handful in the Washington area in Prince William and Prince George's counties. Franchisees can decide on their own whether to adopt the policy.

Keith Mestrich, a spokesman for a coalition against dangerous delivery drivers, praised the Domino's decision, but called Meeks's statement "completely irresponsible. ... After 4 1/2 years of public pressure, the company has finally recognized their responsibility. He should, too."

Domino's built a worldwide reputation for fast delivery beginning in 1979 by promising a free pizza if the pie didn't arrive in half an hour. That offer was scaled back several years ago to give customers $3 refunds on late pizzas.

But the marketing ploy has become a legal nightmare for the company because of accidents involving drivers of cars with the familiar Domino's logo. A company spokeswoman said yesterday that she did not know the number of cases around the country.

But Mestrich, who is also the director of special services for the Allied Food and Service Trades, AFL-CIO, said he has 300 of the cases on file.

On Friday, Domino's lost a suit brought by a St. Louis woman who said she suffered a spinal injury when a Domino's driver ran a red light and hit her car. The jury awarded her $750,000 in actual damages and $78 million in punitive damages. The owner of the St. Louis franchise will pay part of the actual damages. But the company, which had $2.4 billion in sales last year, is responsible for all of the punitive award. The company said it would appeal the decision.

Kathleen W. Collins, a corporate lawyer who is not involved in the case, said she believed Domino's quick decision to change its policy was undoubtedly influenced by lawyers and insurers. "The risk {of even higher jury awards} becomes greater ... and they would be exposing themselves to additional suits" if they kept the policy, she said.

At the press conference, Monaghan emphasized the company's checks of driving records and safe-driving training programs, but said they had not been enough to convince the world that its drivers do not speed and drive unsafely to meet the company's guarantee.

"Monaghan is dead wrong," Mestrich said. "The facts demonstrate ... that both Domino's drivers and the public were endangered continuously and needlessly" because of the policy.

People Against Dangerous Delivery, the group Mestrich represents, was started by the mother of a 17-year-old Domino's driver who was killed while driving for Domino's.

Meeks, who tried unsuccessfully to buy the company from Monaghan several years ago, said the 30-minute guarantee is too important to let it go.

"Every survey shows that this is the number one thing that differentiates us from the competition," he said. " ... Washington is Domino's number one market, and I don't want to mess that up."

Meeks said the offer of $3 refunds for late pizzas costs him about $300,000 a year.

Meeks said that his drivers have not had the safety problems that drivers in other parts of the country have had.

"If I thought for one minute it was unsafe, I would drop it," he said of the 30-minute guarantee. "But we've never had a serious accident in Washington. We've had some fender benders."

The Washington franchise of Domino's has fired about 100 delivery people over the years because of their driving records, Meeks said.

Peter Hetherington, publisher of the newsletter Meal Delivery Digest, said all the companies that dispatch home-delivered pizzas are in a race to get there. But because Domino's is the only one with the guarantee, it gives the perception that they encourage drivers to speed. "What's the difference if it's 30 minutes or 35?" he asked.

Meeks, who thinks five minutes does make a difference, may not be the lone Domino's franchisee to reject Monaghan's new strategy.

Tom Holliday, a vice president of RPM Pizza Inc. in Gulfport, Miss., which owns 163 Domino's stores, said he is not entirely sure what his company will do.

"We're talking to a lot of customers to see what they are saying," he said. "Our customers, when they want a pizza, they want it now."

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